King Sejong's Tomb

Here we are on the same trip as the Yongmun Temple trip...this was just the second stop, King Sejong's Tomb. King Sejong reigned during the Joseon Dynasty. He is one of the Korean people's favorite kings. He is highly loved because he contributed so much to the society. Approximately 600 years ago the Korean language was drawn primarily from the Chinese language and had hundreds of symbols that were very difficult to learn. Usually only royalty and wealthy people learned to read and write because the language was so difficult. King Sejong wanted the general population to be literate so he created a new alphabet consisting of approximately 28 symbols. This language, called Hangul, became widely popular and is now the spoken language of Korea. King Sejong also invented a few different instruments...one being the sun dial...and I can't remember the rest of them. There were little statues of the inventions outside on the lawn...but I think I was more focused on being cold and wet at that point!

We are here braving the rain in front of King Sejong's tomb. He is buried under the mound. It is tradition for Koreans to be buried under the dome shape. Kings and royalty are much larger than other people's tombs. Royalty is buried 10 meters underground, while general population is only buried 2 meters underground. I noticed a few areas of small domes like that along some of our bus rides...they would be on the side of a hill different places and I sort of assumed that maybe it was some type of burial area...and our guide confirmed that for me. It is now becoming more common for Koreans to be cremated and kept in the family home or sometimes buried in a cemetary.

This is the view from where we were standing in the picture above. The tomb is located at the top of a large hill and it overlooks the land...I thought it was pretty.

This is one of the statues off to the side of the tomb, and I honestly can't remember the significance of it...besides looking a bit intimidating! (Well, to me at least!!)

Taylor's photo skills. There were gorgeous flowers there...and we just happened to go on the birthday of King Sejong...go figure right? 612 years ago to the day their beloved king was born. So there were decorations around with pretty flowers from different people...one arrangement was from the South Korean president.

This was the road heading up through the grounds to the tomb. Our guide was telling us that the road is split into 3 parts in some places. Different people were required to walk on different parts of the road. Royalty and non-royalty would walk on different sections as well as scholars versus military. I just thought it was interesting.

This was set up inside one of the buildings and it is traditional Korean dress. I can't remember now if it is a man or woman's...but I just thought it was really pretty.

When an ancestor of the king (his great, great grandchild...or whatever generation they are in now) comes to visit the tomb, they will stay in these quarters at the base of the grounds. You walk through the doors and you walk into an open courtyard. The whole front section up there are servant quarters....and it is about 4 rooms (2 on each side) and they are about the size of a closet! Then you walk through the courtyard and the back portion of the building is where the ancestor of the king will stay. I can't figure out if they still stay there or how it works. Our guide said they come once a year and it takes a week for the trip from their palace down to the tomb with many stops along the way...so it sounds to me like they still do.

Anyway...there is King Sejong's tomb! I have a few more updates to go!